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  1. #1
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    Toys R Us makes employees train foreign workers

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/us...seas.html?_r=0

    excerpt: When Congress designed temporary work visa programs, the idea was to bring in foreigners with specialized, hard-to-find skills who would help American companies grow, creating jobs to expand the economy. Now, though, some companies are bringing in workers on those visas to help move jobs out of the country.

    For four weeks this spring, a young woman from India on a temporary visa sat elbow to elbow with an American accountant in a snug cubicle at the headquarters of Toys “R” Us here. The woman, an employee of a giant outsourcing company in India hired by Toys “R” Us, studied and recorded the accountant’s every keystroke, taking screen shots of her computer and detailed notes on how she issued payments for toys sold in the company’s megastores.

    “She just pulled up a chair in front of my computer,” said the accountant, 49, who had worked for the company for more than 15 years. “She shadowed me everywhere, even to the ladies’ room.”

    By late June, eight workers from the outsourcing company, Tata Consultancy Services, or TCS, had produced intricate manuals for the jobs of 67 people, mainly in accounting. They then returned to India to train TCS workers to take over and perform those jobs there. The Toys “R” Us employees in New Jersey, many of whom had been at the company more than a decade, were laid off.

    A temporary visa program known as H-1B allows American employers to hire foreign professionals with college degrees and “highly specialized knowledge,” mainly in science and technology, to meet their needs for particular skills. Employers, according to the federal guidelines, must sign a declaration that the foreign workers “will not adversely affect the working conditions” of Americans or lower their wages.

    In recent years, however, global outsourcing and consulting firms have obtained thousands of temporary visas to bring in foreign workers who have taken over jobs that had been held by American workers. The Labor Department has opened an investigation of possible visa violations by contractors at the Walt Disney Company and at Southern California Edison, where immigrants replaced Americans in jobs they were doing in this country. Four former workers at Disney have filed discrimination complaints against the company. The companies say they have complied with all applicable laws.

    But the Toys “R” Us layoffs — and others underway now at the New York Life Insurance Company and other businesses — go further. They are examples of how global outsourcing companies are using temporary visas to bring in foreign workers who do not appear to have exceptional skills — according to interviews with a dozen current or former employees of Toys “R” Us and New York Life — to help ship out jobs, mainly to India.

    These former employees described their experience training foreigners to do their work so it could be moved to India. They would speak only on the condition that their names not be published, saying they feared losing severance payments or hurting their chances of finding new jobs.

    In most cases when American workers lost jobs, the positions have been in technology, with employers arguing there are shortages of Americans with the most advanced skills. But in recent years, many jobs that American workers lost have been in accounting and back-office administration — although there is no shortage of Americans qualified to do that kind of work.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    We need to boycott these companies until Congress passes a 10 Year Moratorium on Immigration.

    And artist, you should ask for this thread to be moved to the primary thread of News Stories because it fits there and will get more exposure. This is a bona fide immigration story. Ask Newmexican to move for you.

    Thank you for finding and posting this news article, even though its contents make me want to upchug my supper. I don't know what kind of people we have in our corporations today who think they do this crap and still keep our business.

    Hey Toys R Us! I'll bet Christmas is a big season for you isn't it? Well, how would like a boycott at the height of your make it or break it season?? Huh?? Huh??? Huh???

    You low-rent pond-scum.

    Hillary Clinton should be tried as a Witch for concocting that deal with "Tata Consulting" in New York for their office space when she was a US Senator. Hell should freeze before she occupies another public office.

    GO GET 'EM TRUMP!!
    Last edited by Judy; 10-03-2015 at 02:08 AM.
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  3. #3
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Moved to News.

  4. #4
    Senior Member southBronx's Avatar
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    yes how do we do this TJM in Pa is full with illegal immigrant's so is kapps book inwest pittston Pa
    how do we this

  5. #5
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Toys ‘R’ Us Forces U.S. College Grads To Train Their H-1B Foreign Replacements

    by Adelle Nazarian
    6 Oct 2015
    901 comments

    Toys “R” Us is the latest in a string of U.S. companies that has been caught forcing their American employees to train foreign college-grads to take the Americans’ jobs, via a process known as “knowledge transfer.”

    An expose by the New York Times revealed in detail how the renowned children’s toy-chain brought in eight workers from the global outsourcing company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The Indians shadowed employees, mainly in accounting, and produced intricate manuals for TCS workers in India to take over these jobs. By late June, the jobs had been transferred overseas and 67 employees had been laid off from Toys “R” Us, many of whom had reportedly been at the company for over a decade.

    One accountant, age 49, who had been with Toys “R” Us in New Jersey for over 15 years, explained how she was shadowed, for four weeks, by a young woman on a temporary visa from India.

    “She shadowed me everywhere, even to the ladies’ room,” said the accountant.

    “We were asked to cooperate and show them respect and train them to do our individual job functions… If you didn’t cooperate, you would be asked to leave,” said another former company accountant, age 36, who worked there for nearly 12 years.

    She said the young Indian “was watching me like a hawk… It took him a while to learn what I did.”

    She told the Times, “I felt like, ‘Why am I sitting here showing this man how to do my job when they are taking it away from me and sending it to India?'”

    Although under federal guidelines employers are required to sign a declaration that these foreign employees “will not adversely affect the working conditions” or lower their wages, thousands of American workers are being laid off, replaced by foreign workers and even forced to train them for their own jobs.

    Many interviews with former employees reveal their view that foreign H-1B visa workers don’t necessarily have exceptional skills compared to their American counterparts. The Times also points out that the layoffs at Toys “R” Us and other companies are growing examples of how global outsourcing companies are using temporary visas to bring in these foreign workers to help ship out jobs, mainly to India.

    Corporations and lobby groups such as Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us, falsely claim that these H-1B visa workers create more jobs for Americans. In fact, there are far more U.S. graduates with STEM and IT degrees than there are jobs available.

    This past May, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest wrote, “Each year, the U.S. graduates twice as many students with STEM degrees as are hired in STEM occupations. Contrary to the suggestion that these students are finding better, higher-paying jobs, the opposite is true.”

    Poor regulation of the wages paid to foreign-workers is causing the H-1B abuses, Howard University professor Ron Hira said during his March hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Paying H-1B visa workers that same as American STEM and IT workers would truly even the playing field and determine a person’s skills based on merit, he says.

    H-1B guestworkers are cheaper than American workers and don’t have much bargaining power, and any company would be foolish not to take advantage of this highly lucrative business model that has been inadvertently created by Congress and multiple presidential administrations. Of course, this business model is paid for by destroying the livelihoods and dignity of tens of thousands of American workers. The costs are also borne by American taxpayers, through foregone tax revenue and the additional social services that need to be provided for those newly unemployed American workers.

    Other companies that have displaced American workers in favor of H-1B visa laborers include Disney in Florida, Southern California Edison, Harley Davidson Wisconsin, Cargill in Minnesota, Pfizer in Connecticut, and Xerox in New York.

    More than 8 in 10 H-1B workers are paid beneath the median wage and only 6 precent of H-1B visas are issued to workers that the Department of Labor categorizes as “fully competent.” In fact, many of these replacements are paid anywhere between $10,000 to $30,000 less per year than U.S. STEM and IT workers.

    Right now, temporary H-1B visas are supposedly capped at 85,000 each year. But H-1B workers at non-profits, such as universities and many hospitals, don’t count against the annual 85,000 limit.

    However both Republican and Democratic legislators such as 2016 presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)
    are pushing for the passage of their I-Squared bill (Immigration Innovation) which would triple the number of H-1B visas in America, allowing these corporations cut even more labor costs in what many are referring to as corporate greed.

    Other co-sponsors of the bill include Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...-replacements/
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  6. #6
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Too bad this can't happen to some of our politican's jobs but then again it never would have happened if that were the case.
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  7. #7
    Senior Member Scott-in-FL's Avatar
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    I would like to tell you about my past experience. I worked at Franklin Templeton Investments, a mutual fund company. I didn't get laid off, rather I left on my own after 14 years of employment there. I worked in IT as a Software Engineer.

    Prior to 2000, the company was a great place to work. We'd get good raises and bonuses, they would gave us annual free passes to Busch Gardens and Universal Studios, along with spending money. They had company sponsored Christmas Parties. They even increased the starting vacation time from two weeks to three.

    That all changed after 2000. Shortly before 9/11, there was a large lay off in IT. There hadn't been lay offs before that. More than a third of my coworkers were laid off. They were told to leave that day. It came as a surprise. Shortly after that, Production Control was outsourced to IBM. Half of the employees, became IBM employees and still worked in my building. Eventually, they all disappeared, along with the Christmas parties and free trips.

    Following that, the company began ramping up their new operations in India. They even built them a new campus. These Indians were new employees of the company. I remember that they had a difficult time retaining their Indian employees. Apparently, jobs were so plentiful in India, that they would frequently just leave for a new job. I used to hate it when the senior manager, would brag about how smart the Indians were and mention outsourcing.

    With the new Indian employees, the time started for them to start replacing many of my remaining coworkers. They didn't bring many Indians to our St. Pete campus, instead the employees worked with their replacements remotely. Some had six months to train their replacements. If they didn't they would not receive their severance package. These people had been with the company for many years. Some didn't have replacements and were told they had six months, before being terminated. I sat across from one of my team members that had six months to go. I felt so sorry for her and scared myself.

    Over the following years, more people were laid off. Not only in IT, but any desk job. It felt like a game of "Survivor". At the location, that I worked at, there was a six story tower, and four two story buildings. By the time, I left, the tower building was completely leased to other companies and some floors in the other buildings. I hated seeing that big "for lease" sign every time I arrived at the site.

    The company became a very depressing place to work. We never felt like we had a future. We were told that we were lucky to have a job. We never knew when a system would be outsourced to India. I really felt contempt for the company. I despised the Indians. I know it wasn't their fault for what happened, but I always thought of them as the enemy. It was tough having to work with them (remotely). The company destroyed so many lives, just to increase their bottom line. Any of the American employees could work as hard as possible and learn as much as possible, but could never compete on salary. This has had a lasting affect on my life and I know outsourcing IT and other jobs is pretty common. When I started in 1980, IT was a wonderful profession. Lots of jobs and opportunities. Now I would recommend that Americans find a different profession.

  8. #8
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Scott in Fla, I am so so sorry this happened to you and your fellow workers and professionals in IT. We've been tracking what's been happening in the IT field for many years. The last number I saw was over 2 million unemployed American IT workers. There were people from this industry in CA who regularly posted the information. There's probably far more now, and it's a crime that our government would allow our companies to do this. Perhaps even the worst crime is that the companies would want to do this to begin with. We have to stop all immigration for at least 10 years so we can figure out how this happened, fix it, get these visas workers out of here, and get Americans their jobs back.
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